Monthly Archives: October 2012

It’s Halloween! And I thought I’d make one final Halloween-related post here on the blog. Because, well…the library offers more than just books. We have resources for doing research, programmes for fun and for information, computers you can use in the library, and Wi-fi you can use with your own laptop, too.

And we also have movies.

I love movies, including horror movies. We’ve done a couple of posts on Halloween-themed books, so how about some spooky movies, too?

Paranormal Activity (1-3) – Rating: 14A

In the first Paranormal Activity, a couple begins to record their house, in an effort to capture the weird things they’ve been experiencing, like bumps and crashes in the night. They think they might be facing a ghost, but it soon becomes apparent that what is really haunting them is something worse…a demon.

These movies are a great contribution to modern horror. The effects are seemingly simple, but are extremely well-done, often leaving you wondering how they were possibly done! What is interesting about this series is that the first three instalments actually progress backwards in time, developing the storyline of the couple and (her) family more, instead of moving on to something completely unrelated (like a lot of horror movie sequels).

Paranormal Activity 4 is in theatres now, so catch up with the first three before you see the new release!

The Woman in Black – Rating: 14A

A young lawyer travels to a small village to go through the house of a recently deceased woman. What he finds once there, however, is a furious ghost who is not, by any means, ready to rest.

This is a fairly new movie, based on the novel by Susan hill and starring a post-Potter Daniel Radcliffe. It is full of dark, creepy scenes, and definitely has the “jump” factor. If you are looking for a chilling ghost story, this may be a great choice.

Carrie – Rating: 14A

Carrie is shy, unpopular, and forced to live with an over-religious mother who doesn’t really understand the real world. After discovering that she has telekinetic powers, Carrie tries to fit in with her school…but a cruel prom prank sparks something else within her, something dark and sinister.

This classic, based on the novel by Stephen King, is about to remade…see the original before the new version comes out to theatres! This is a teen-horror, meaning it is focused around the lives of teens. It is slightly gory, definitely creepy, and has a couple of jumps in it as well.

So there you are, a few Halloween horror choices for your viewing displeasure. Watch the movies, and even read the books! It’s all available through the Wellington County Library System.

Okay, so it’s been my experience that sometimes, YA books can be more geared towards girls than they are towards guys. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some great YA books for guys, too (or that girls can’t enjoy guy-geared reads as well!)

Here are a few recent additions to the WCL collection that can be great reads for guys.

The Infects – Sean Beaudoin

About the book – From inside jacket cover:

Zombrule #4 0 Survival is for the ruthless. Everyone else is a hippie poet.

Stuck in the wilderness with a bunch of other juvenile delinquents on an “Inward Trek,” it doesn’t seem that things could get worse for seventeen-year-old Nick “Nero” Sole.

But they do. Overnight, Nero’s counsellors turn into flesh-eating manieacs and start chowing down on his fellow miscreants—like a monster movie come to life. As in any classic monster flick worth its salted popcorn, colossal carnage sends survivors rabbiting into the woods while the mindless horde of “infects” shambles, moans, and drools behind. These kids have seen the movies; they know the rules.

Unfortunately, knowing the rules isn’t going to be enough.

Everybody Sees the Ants – A.S. King

About the book – From inside jacket cover:

Lucky Linderman didn’t ask for his life. He didn’t ask his grandfather not to come home from the Vietnam War. He didn’t ask for a father who never got over it. He didn’t ask for a mother who keeps pretending their dysfunctional family is fine. And he didn’t ask to be the target of Nader McMillan’s relentless bullying, which has finally hone too far.

But Lucky has a secret—one that helps him wade through the daily mundane torture of his life. In his dreams, Lucky escapes to the war-ridden jungles of Lao—the prison his grandfather couldnm’t escape—where Lucky can be a real man, an adventurer, and a hero. It’s dangerous and wild, and it’s a place where his life just might be worth living. But how long can Lucky keep hiding in his dreams before reality forces its way inside?

Ever been searching for something good to read, but don’t know have a specific book in mind?

There are lots of ways you can find new books to read, but it’s not always easy to remember all the resources available to you! So today we’re doing a spotlight on one library resource you can use at the library or at home, to help you find that next perfect read.

Novelist

Novelist is an online database where you can find information about books, whether they be teen books, children’s books, or adult reads. You can access the database from our website, by clicking on Online Resources -> Research Tools -> Databases by Title -> “N” for Novelist. Or, you can skip to the last page by clicking here.

This is what the home page of Novelist looks like.

There are tons of ways you can use this database…you can search by title, author, or description. You can see what some of the current bestselling books are for all ages. You can even follow a tutorial if you’re not sure how to get started. But today we’re just going to pinpoint one cool feature about Novelist: The Recommended Reads List.

Here’s a close up of the reads list.

It’s on the front page of Novelist, so it’s really easy to find. And you can use it to search for books in any genre! For example, if I wanted to find a teen-geared romance novel, all I’d have to do is click “Teen” and “Romance”, and it’ll give me some choices.

Then, once I’ve chosen what kind of romance I’m looking for, it’ll bring me to a page like this:

You can see a list of recommended titles, all with publication dates, reviews, cover images, and a quick summary of what the book’s about!

Novelist and other resources are always available for you to use with your WCL library card. Check them out next time you’re in search of a great read!

In my last post, I listed a few Halloween/creepy/horror YA reads that have got me excited about it being October! But like I said then, and I’ll repeat now…there are tons of awesome YA horror books out there!

So! In keeping with the spirit of Halloween, I’m going to share a few more YA horror and/or otherwise creepy novels with you.

Anna Dressed in Blood – Kendare Blake

From Goodreads:

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

Thirteen Days to Midnight – Patrick Carman

From Goodreads:

You are indestructible. Three whispered words transfer an astonishing power to Jacob Fielding that changes everything. At first, Jacob is hesitant to use the power, unsure of its implications. But there’s something addictive about testing the limits of fear.

Then Ophelia James, the beautiful and daring new girl in town, suggests that they use the power to do good, to save others. But with every heroic act, the power grows into the specter of a curse. How to decide who lives and who dies?

The House of Dead Maids – Clare B. Dunkle

From Goodreads:

Young Tabby Aykroyd has been brought to the dusty mansion of Seldom House to be nursemaid to a foundling boy. He is a savage little creature, but the Yorkshire moors harbor far worse, as Tabby soon discovers. The ghost of the last maid will not leave Tabby in peace, yet this spirit is only one of many. Why do scores of dead maids and masters haunt Seldom House with a jealous devotion that extends beyond the grave?

As Tabby struggles to escape the evil forces rising out of the land, she watches her young charge choose a different path. He is determined to keep Seldom House as his own. Though Tabby tries to befriend the uncouth urchin, her kindness cannot alter his fate. Long before he reaches the old farmhouse of Wuthering Heights, the boy who will become Heathcliff has doomed himself and any who try to befriend him.

Can you believe we’re working our way into the middle of October? Halloween is right around the corner, and what better way to get into the Halloween spirit than to read some chillingly awesome horror/Halloween books!

There are so many great Halloween-y titles, that I’m splitting this one up. Here is the first batch of dark and twisted YA tales!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth – Carrie Ryan

From Goodreads:

In Mary’s world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

The Body Finder – Kimberly Derting

From Goodreads:

Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her “power” to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes that the dead leave behind in the world… and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find the dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he’s claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare – Darren Shan

From Goodreads:

In the tradition of Stephen King’s ‘Salem’s Lot, Cirque Du Freak is the frightening saga of a young boy whose visit to a mysterious freak show leads him on a journey into a dark world of vampires. Filled with grotesque creatures, murderous vampires, and a petrifying ending, Cirque Du Freak will chill, thrill, and leave readers begging for more.

What do you think? Read any of these creepy tales? Have any other suggestions for The Horrors of Halloween Part 2? Leave a note in the comments, and your title might be featured!

We had a little bit of break while we got back into the swing of fall, but now we’re back! And we’ve got some great new teen books to share with you.

Siren’s Storm – Lisa Papademetriou

From Goodreads:

Nothing has been the same for Will ever since what happened last summer. One day, on an ordinary sailing trip with his brother, there is a strange accident. When Will wakes up, he learns his brother has disappeared, presumed drowned. Worst of all, Will can’t remember what happened—his family finds him unconscious, with no memory of the accident.

Now Will and his best friend and neighbor, Gretchen, are starting a new summer. Gretchen seems troubled—her sleepwalking habit is getting worse, and she keeps waking up closer and closer to the water. Will is drawn to Asia, the exotic new girl in town. Nobody knows where she’s from—all Will knows is that her beauty and her mesmerizing voice have a powerful effect on people.

Then there is another mysterious drowning, and Will and Gretchen begin to wonder: Is Asia just another beautiful, wealthy summer resident? Or is she something entirely more sinister . . . and inhuman?

Touched – Cyn Balog

From Goodreads:

Nick Cross always listens to the voice in his head. Because if he doesn’t? Things can go really, really wrong. Like the day he decided to go off script and saved a girl from being run over . . . and let another one drown. Trying to change the future doesn’t work.

But this summer at the Jersey Shore, something’s about to happen that Nick never could have predicted. He meets a girl named Taryn and finds out about the Book of Touch. Now the path that he thought he was on begins to shift . . . and there’s no way to stop things from happening. Or is there?

In a life where there are no surprises, nothing has prepared Nick for what he’s about to discover–or the choice he will be forced to make. . . .

Between Shades of Gray – Ruta Sepetys

From Goodreads:

Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they’ve known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin’s orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously–and at great risk–documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father’s prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives.

What do you think? Have any great new reads you’d like to share? Leave a comment and let us know!